Pristina, while certainly not being for everyone, is a highly underrated city in my humble opinion. It does not have the Ottoman-era charm of cities like Prizren, no Serbian Orthodox marvels like the patriarchate at Peja, and not that many brutalist pieces of architecture to gaze at like in Belgrade or Skopje. However, it has some very unique sites to see nonetheless, and an excellent park to wind down at. I stayed in this lovely city, which is mostly known for its café culture, for seven nights, as it seemed to be the perfect hub to explore Kosovo, and I am glad that I made that decision. Let us now see what Pristina offers to its not so many visitors, and why, perhaps, it deserves a few more people heading its way.
Pristina’s main landmark is none other than its Newborn sign, and this alone tells a lot about the city you are in. Pristina is the modern center of Kosovo’s current regime, by all means, it is newborn. While the city itself did exist for many centuries prior to its current role, it was often a backwater at best. Cities like Prizren played a much bigger role in Albanian history, whereas Peja and Gračanica had a similar role in the Serbian case. Pristina, on the other hand, was rather unremarkable until now. It did have some investment coming its way during the Yugoslav period, which is it has a few examples of exceptional brutalist architecture to gaze at, but most of the city was built recently (often by Turkish firms that are paid by Western investment and donations) and is thus quite modern.
After all, not so long ago, cities like Pristina and many others in the region were center of a bloody conflict. While many people perished in fighting, buildings did not fare any better as well. Bombings, assaults, sieges, bombardments of all types reduced certain cities of Kosovo to rubble at times. While one can remember such hard times by visiting the city’s recently renovated history museum and check out photos like this one and more, it feels great to report that nowadays, signs of such a recent war is all but gone in Pristina.
If you want to find out more about this whole ethnic conflict and study it from an admittedly one sided yet still quite interesting perspective, you should also make your way to the Museum of Independence when you are in Pristina. This was the house where the very first president of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, once lived. While it is free to enter, you are expected to donate, at least, that is what I assumed when I was there.
While city’s recent history was of utmost interest to me, I cannot deny the fact that I was quite happy to see Skanderbeg’s statue in the centre of the town as well. This fine gentleman, who stood against Ottoman invasion for much longer than anticipated, is a legendary figure for all ethnic Albanians. It is no wonder that he found a place for himself in Pristina as well. It may not be as huge as the statue in Tirana, but it does the job.
Speaking of statues, while it cannot even hope to rival Skopje, Pristina is home to a surprising amount of these as well. Statues of Mother Theresa are, unsurprisingly, especially quite common in Pristina, and the rest of Kosovo for that matter.
While some Christians are welcome in Pristina, some others are arguably not. Catholics like Mother Theresa are celebrated all around Kosovo and Albania, while Orthodox Serbian Christianity is tolerated at best, though even that is not a given. This half built Orthodox Serbian Church is a perfect reminder of the conflict in 1990s. I have been told by the locals that it was being built in an effort to further “Serbianize” the city. Nowadays, it is left to rot and is frequented by homeless people and stray dogs alike. In fact, if you check out its comments on Google Maps, you can read a few horror stories of people being bitten by possibly rabid dogs over here.
When you are already in the area, make sure to give the neighbouring National University Library of Kosovo named after “Pjetër Bogdani” a visit. It is one of the best architectural marvels out there, leaving my speechless for quite some time. While it looked like just any other library on the inside, it was a joy to look at this place from all other angles as much as I could.
While the city is home to some other interesting examples of Yugoslav architecture, for the most part, it seems like just any other generic Eastern European town with some cement high rises that are increasingly being chaperoned by newer glass and steel high rises. Likely thanks to this high-density city planning, Pristina is also home to an admirable amount of greenery. Despite being quite hot when I was there, I could not complain about the heat as much as I did in Skopje, due to the more generous tree coverage Pristina has.
While trees are plentiful, one other thing decorates the streets of Pristina: American flags. This is no coincidence, as without the American-led NATO aid in 1990s, well, I guess, it safe to say that Pristina would not be the city it is today. I would not be surprised if Bill Clinton did not have a statue of his own anywhere in the USA but being so openly pro-Kosovar and anti-Serbian in 1990s, he certainly deserved himself a place on a pedestal all this way away from home. Unsurprisingly, some streets are named after American presidents and the like as well. Then again, that was the case in Albania as well, so I did not expect anything less here.
While one can go on a much longer trite about the political situation in Kosovo, I decided that this website was not the right place for it. Unlike some other guides of mine, the one on Kosovo will be less “juicy,” to put it in another way. With that out of the way, let us continue our apolitical trip around Pristina. Being such a small city, it is not home to any big or particularly successful museums. The National Gallery of Kosovo, for example, is home to only two floors filled with a few tiny rooms. These are “filled” with a handful of paintings. These artworks seem to change frequently, and the gallery is free to enter.
There were some interesting pieces when I was there, but as someone who is not trained in arts in any way, you should take what I say with a grain of salt. It was a particularly hot day, and I needed somewhere air-conditioned. Perhaps the sudden respite made me see things as better than they were.
A bit underwhelmed by the gallery, but ready to check out more museums and the like, I made my way northwards along one of the main roads of the city. On my way, I came across a road sign that provided much more food for thought than the gallery I just visited, and the museum I would visit soon enough. I sound a bit jaded, I know, but then again if I cannot be open and honest in these articles, that are not even monetized nor advertised, where else can I be so direct? Anyways, as you can see, this is a thoroughly vandalized road sign that is in the center of Pristina. It is far from being the only one. In fact, most Serbian writing around Pristina is vandalized, despite it being one of the official languages of Kosovo. I will leave it to my readers to make whatever they wish to make with this information.
With a lot to wonder about, I eventually arrived at the Ethnological Museum of Pristina. It was under renovation when I arrived, and perhaps because of that, there was no entry fee. With that being said, once again, there was not much to see as well… You could look at a few household items that a certain rich local used a few centuries ago and hear a story about how the same man had central heating for his bathroom, and that is it. After the renovation, I do hope that this museum will offer far more to its visitors.
If wondering around the streets of highly urbanized cities are not for you, then you are in luck! Being a rather small town, you can easily escape into the nature from the very center of Pristina. The gorgeous Gërmia Park is just a bus ride away from practically anywhere in the city, and that short bus ride costs merely 50 cents. This massive park is so serene that during my short stay in Pristina I ended up going there multiple times. While its greenery and hiking trails are certainly inviting, there are also some decent eateries and cafes all around this well-kept green space, as well as a rather huge swimming pool that welcomes you at the very beginning. Heck, that swimming pool is so big it basically functions as the beach of Pristina. This whole area was the highlight of Pristina for me, and frankly the reason why I ended up loving my stay in the city this much.
When you want to say farewell to Pristina, there is no better place to do that then the tower of the Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa. After paying just over a Euro each to use the elevator, you will be greeted with a rather beautiful panoramic view of the city that surrounds you on all sides. This particular angle where you can see the city’s quirky library in all of its glory is just an example of the decent views you can get from atop.
With this view, we come to the end of our tour around Pristina. It is not the prettiest town out there, nor is it the most interesting one. Constant hostilities and an uncertain future means that the locals are not the friendliest as well, as they have quite a lot of stuff to worry about on their mind. It is certainly an interesting little town nonetheless, and with its rather cheap yet high quality dining scene and a well-connected and functioning bus station, there is no reason not to make it a hub during your exploration of Kosovo as I did. No matter the purpose of your visitation, I can only hope that it will be an enjoyable one!